Molly Fillmore

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Grammy award-winning soprano Molly Fillmore made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2011 as Helmwige in the Met’s new production of Der Ring der Nibelungen, conducted by James Levine and directed by Robert Lepage. She returned to the Met to sing a principal role in Satyagraha by Philip Glass. Both Satyagraha and Die Walküre were shown live in movie theaters around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD series as well as on PBS stations nationwide as part of their Great Performances series. She can be heard and seen on Deutsche Grammophon’s recent releases of the CD and DVD/Blu-Ray of Die Walküre from The Metropolitan Opera under the musical direction of James Levine and Fabio Luisi.

Her soprano debut was in the title role of Salome at San Francisco Opera with music director Nicola Luisotti conducting. She covered the role of Brünnhilde and sang the role of Ortlinde in Francesca Zambello’s San Francisco Opera production of Die Walküre, conducted by Donald Runnicles. Other American opera appearances include Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Spoleto Festival, and Washington National Opera. In the 2013-2014 season she made her role debut as Marietta/Marie in Die tote Stadt with Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland in a production directed by Jan Schmidt-Garré and conducted by Otto Tausk.

Before her switch to dramatic soprano repertoire, Molly Fillmore had an international career as a mezzo-soprano, including five seasons as a principal soloist in the ensemble of Oper der Stadt Köln (Cologne Opera), where she appeared in numerous roles, including Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Romeo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Don Ramiro in La finta giardiniera, Smeraldine in L’amour des trois oranges, Mercedes in Carmen, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, and Waltraute in Die Walküre. She worked with, among others, conductors Sir Jeffrey Tate, Robert Carsen, Daniele Callegari, Graeme Jenkins, and Philippe Auguin as well as stage directors Christof Loy, Günter Krämer, and Torsten Fischer. Other mezzo-soprano appearances included the roles of Marguerite in La damnation de Faust, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, and Margret in Wozzeck. She appeared in recital with tenor Ernst Haefliger at the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and as the mezzo-soprano soloist in the Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noël on DeustchlandFunk Radio.

Additionally on the concert stage, has appeared as a soloist in an operatic concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, the Mozart Requiem and Handel’s Messiah with the Detroit Symphony, La damnation de Faust with Utah Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ Magnificat and an opera gala with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall, a Gershwin celebration and Mozart Requiem at Avery Fisher Hall, Isolde’s “Liebestod” at the Interlochen Arts Festival and Stravinsky’s Les Noces at the Great Lakes Chamber Festival. On the concert stage she has worked with Gerard Schwarz, Hans Graf, Lothar Koenigs, Keith Lockhart, John Rutter, Norman Scribner, and Nicholas McGegan.

Molly Fillmore made her solo operatic debut with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center Opera House while a sophomore at American University. By the time she had completed her university studies, she had appeared in seven roles with the Washington National Opera and as a soloist in numerous concerts at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

She graduated magna cum laude from American University, holds a Master of Music degree from The University of Maryland, and attended the Franz-Schubert-Institut for the Study and Performance of the German Lied in Baden-bei-Wien, Austria. She taught voice at Michigan State University for ten years and recently joined the faculty at the University of North Texas, where she holds the position of Professor of Voice.